'Bourne' Producer: No Matt Damon in Next Film

"It's simply not true," says longtime producer Frank Marshall of the theory that the Universal film was pushed back one year in order to accommodate Damon's return.

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Matt Damon, Frank Marshall

Frank Marshall, the longtime producer of the Jason Bourne films, is shooting down speculation that Matt Damon will return as Bourne in the next installment dated July 15, 2016. Marshall disputed that Universal recently pushed the film's release date back one year to accommodate Damon's return.

"It's simply not true," Marshall tells THR, adding that the film will feature the Aaron Cross character played by Jeremy Renner in the 2012 installment, The Bourne Legacy. "[Director] Justin Lin is working with Andrew Baldwin on an Aaron Cross script/story that they pitched us a few months ago. I talk to Justin all the time and the script is not ready. It's a summer movie, and if we don't start preproduction now, we can't make next summer. Therefore, it's a wise decision to move to 2016."

The notion that Damon would return was floated by the Latino Review website and promptly picked up elsewhere.

Damon has said previously that he would not reprise his role unless Paul Greengrassreturned as director. Greengrass directed the 2004 film, The Bourne Supremacy, and the 2007 installment, The Bourne Ultimatum, but clashed with longtime Bourne screenwriter Tony Gilroy. Gilroy then replaced Greengrass on The Bourne Legacy with Renner as the star. That film grossed $276 million worldwide, a steep drop from the previous Bourne film with Damon, which grossed $443 million worldwide.